After the Fall
by kapers in pink
Summary: Sansa Stark knows how to play the Game. She knows what's at stake. And she'll do anything to protect her family. Set immediately following The Battle of the Bastards.
1. What You Want

"What do you want?"

"I thought you knew what I wanted."

It was a statement. A fact. And she knew what he wanted. She had always known. She had known since that day in the Eyrie; the day he kissed her.

"And what will I get if I give it to you?"

She knew now, how to play the game. She knew what she would have to do. What she would have to give up.

Bran was still out there. And Arya. And she would do anything, everything, to get them back.

"If I give you what you want, what will you do for me?"

She didn't break eye contact. She didn't look away.

"Sansa..." He took a step towards her, but stopped.

"I need you to say it." She took a step back, widening the distance between them.

"I will never let anyone hurt you again, Lady Stark."

"That's not what I'm talking about. I know the only people I can trust, the only people who will ever truly protect me, are my blood. My family. You failed me, so many times, Lord Baelish. That promise means nothing." Her voice never rose above a whisper, but she knew he heard every word she said.

"I know you want my hand in marriage. I know you want Winterfell. And I'm prepared to give it to you. I'm prepared to give you everything you want, Lord Baelish."

Her voice never faltered. She looked him straight in the eyes, smirking at the shock that flashed across his face.

"I don't..." And for the first time, Petyr Baelish was at a loss for words.

"I will give you my hand, Lord Baelish. I will give you what you want." She took a step closer, closing the gap between them.

The cold winds of winter blew around them, stirring the snow on the ground, rustling the branches of the weirwood above her.

"I will do anything for you, Lady Stark," Petyr started, reaching out to her. His hand hesitantly touched her waist, pulling her lightly towards her.

"I know you will, Lord Baelish. For you have no choice. You will do what I want, and what I ask, or I will tell the kingdom what happened at the Eyrie. I will tell them about Jon Arryn. I will tell them everything." Her smile didn't reach her eyes, but she knew by the look on his face that she had him exactly where she wanted him.


	2. A Foolish Man

He was trapped, and he knew it.

He was a fool, and he knew it.

He was in love, and he knew it.

And she knew it too.

The Tully women had always had a certain power over him; but she was different.

He thought himself a cunning man; one had to be to survive Kings Landing.

And survive he had.

But so had she.

The look on her face as the Knights of the Vale stormed the field. When the bastard Jon Snow was beating Ramsey Bolton to death with his own hands. When the banner of House Stark hung once again on the walls of Winterfell.

"What do you want?" She had asked him, standing under the weirwood tree. Her auburn hair, hints of black still visible from when she had dyed it before leaving the Eyrie, glistened in the sun.

"I thought you knew what I wanted." He didn't say it as a question, but as a fact.

"And what will I get if I give it to you?"

Her words stunned him.

"If I give you what you want, what will you do for me?"

The innocent daughter of the Kings Hand, who had once dreamed of marrying a prince, was gone.

She looked him the eyes. She wasn't afraid.

"Sansa..." He took a step towards her, reaching out. He would travel to the ends of the world for this girl, and she knew it.

"I need you to say it." She took a step back from him, but didn't break eye contact.

"I will never let anyone hurt you again, Lady Stark." He would kill anyone who tried. No one would lay a finger on Sansa Stark and live to tell the tale.

"That's not what I'm talking about. I know the only people I can trust, the only people who will protect me, are my blood. My family. You failed me, so many times, Lord Baelish. That promise means nothing." Her voice was quiet, barely a whisper, but he heard her as though she were shouting.

"I know you want my hand in marriage. I know you want Winterfell. And I'm prepared to give it to you. I'm prepared to give you everything you want, Lord Baelish."

She smirked at the shock that flashed across his face.

"I don't..." He stopped, not knowing what to say. For the first time in his life, he was speechless.

He had wanted Caitlyn Tully.

He had settled for Lysa Arryn.

He loved Sansa Stark.

Since that day in the Eyrie, when he had kissed her. He had wanted nothing but her.

Even the whores in his brothels couldn't quench that thirst.

"I will give you my hand, Lord Baelish. I will give you what you want." She took a step closer, closing the distance between them.

"I will do anything for you, Lady Stark." He said, reaching out to her. He hesitantly touched her waist, pulling her towards him.

"I know you will, Lord Baelish. For you have no choice." He froze.

"You will do what I want, and what I ask, or I will tell the kingdom what happened at the Eyrie. I will tell them about Jon Arryn. I will tell them everything."

She smiled a knowing smile; the same smile she had had on her face when she told them that the bastard Bolton had been torn apart by his own hounds.

And he knew that his life was in her hands. That she had the power to destroy him.


	3. Protect

Jon didn't approve.

But she knew he wouldn't.

And it didn't matter.

She was a woman, married twice already. What difference would a third time make.

"Sansa, please listen to me. I know you think this is the only option, but it's not." He had been pleading with her for over an hour.

She didn't have the heart to tell him that it was too late.

The agreement had been made.

She would marry Petyr Baelish. She would unite Winterfell and the Vale. She would protect her family.

"He's too old. He's not trustworthy. He was married to your aunt. He's a murderer. He gave you to Ramsey Bolton and left you to fend for yourself."

She could still feel him on her. Around her. Inside her. But she kept her face blank.

"He's the only reason we're still alive Jon."

That much was true. If it weren't for Littlefinger and the Knights of the Vale, the battle would have been lost.

And she hadn't planned on going back to Ramsey Bolton alive.

"There's got to be something else. Anything else. You're the heir of Winterfell. You don't even have to marry, if you don't want to."

"You were the commander of the Nights Watch. You've seen what's on the other side of The Wall. What's coming for us. And you know that we can't keep Winterfell without help."

And she knew that Bran and Arya were out there somewhere.

And Littlefinger would help her find them.

"Sansa..." He took a step towards her, then stopped. Running a hand through his hair, he sighed. "There's no talking you out of this, is there?"

"I will do everything I have to, to protect my family. And I will never let Winterfell burn again."

She was no longer that little girl, watching eagerly as King Robert rode into Winterfell to make her father his Hand. She no longer had fantasies of marrying the handsome prince and living happily ever after.

In the Game of Thrones, happiness didn't exist.


End file.
